With keeping true to my #1 rule!
I've really got the bug for a Winchester 94 in 30-30. No particular need, plenty of hunting options in the safe. I just all of a sudden, well in the last several months anyway, want one.
Now here is where I need support. I'm not particularly interested in a pre-64 safe queen, and I saw an add for a trade with the 94 owner wanting an 8MM Mauser. Just so happens I have a 1938 BRNO, a Turk, a Russian caprure 98, and a very nice Yugo 48A. I contacted the guy, and he said he was interested in the one I offered, the Yugo. My one question on his 94 was if It was pre angle eject/safety. He said It was not, and I thanked him, but declined. I just can't get past the "modernized" 94. Especially the unnessary, obnoctious, and ugly safety!
But a 94 for the Yugo just keeps rolling around in my head.
I really don't want to violate my own #1 rule, and I still hate the "improvements" that spelled the end to the 94, but It is a 94!

I'm more of a marlin guy myself... that said, I don't see where people get hung up on safeties. I don't think a Ruger M77 with the tang safety is any uglier than the new style. I do take issue if they put them in crappy spots like beretta does with all their handguns but I have never said "I will never buy that gun because of an ugly safety".

if you want one with a different safety then wait for one... just don't wait too long, those mausers are appreciated rapidly.

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ignore my complete lack of capitalization. I still have no problem correcting your grammar.
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Not safetys in general. Just a 100 yearsold design that was perfectly safe with a half cock hammer being redesigned with a cross bolt safety in the frame. That bothers me a lot more than the angle eject, which came out first, but I'm more interested in an original looking at least 94. A pre-64 would be nice, but much more costly for a shooter. All my guns are shooters, cheap or not, but no safe queens.
BTW, I'm the guy with the Yugo, hope the do keep appriciating, but so are almost any discontinued Winchesters.

I do like the Marlin lever guns. Have been thinking of a 336 in 35 Remington, and that's still kinda on the list. As well as a 1895 Guide Gun to replace the early (modern) 1895 I traded off years ago helping result in my #1 rule.
The Winchester is just more "cowboy", and granddad's deer rifle than the Marlin.

Violate your rule and it is not a rule. Your principles go out the window. While your initial commitment does have some validity. If you do it, then change your name. You'll be just another suck-up firearm friend like the rest of us. No loyalty. Just wheel & deal as we strive to obtain what we want even though we may not need it at the time. Then down the road exchange it for another firearm or the money to get something else.
I guess if I can't depend on you to adhere to your own rule, then there's no point in believing in anything.

I guess if I can't depend on you to adhere to your own rule, then there's no point in believing in anything.

Thanks for that dose of reality. No trade, I'll just keep my eyes open for one I really want for a cash deal
In the mean time I've got a NEF/ H&R Handi Rifle in 500 S&W I picked up a couple weeks ago to play with for a while.

It wouldn't interest me. If it was a pre-AE, pre-safety shooter with some character, then I would be into it. I traded away a 70's Marlin 336 in .35 Rem. and now I'm keeping my eyes open for another one. I'm liking your rule more and more as I get older.

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To a much greater extent than most mechanical devices, firearms are terribly unforgiving of any overconfidence, complacency or negligence.

I have 94s back to the 20's, I don't mind the angle eject as much as the crossbolt safety. I seriously dislike the rebound hammer system, but they are simple to swap out for the half cock type.

Some of the early angle ejects have been some of the slickest 94's I've ever seen, I wouldnt mind having one. It would wear decent glass, something else I appreciate more as time goes on.

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Something to consider. The original top ejecting half cock safety Winchester M94 are pretty much history. The few being made today are made in Japan by Miroku and the ones I've seen have all had 4 figure price tags. I had a few that I'd picked up as part payment in deals but they were all beaters. I put them on my table at a gun show and every one pulled down $450 or more with one going fo $600. None were anything special.
Paul B.

IS one of your mausers of lower quality? Not low quality, but condition that could be improved on? If you trade that one and purchase an identical replacement mauser in better condition i don't think it counts as breaking your rule!

I happen to like my 100th anniversary 94 AE , but I have 4 in 30-30, a saddle ring 44mag and 2 9422's. Sooo... I guess I just like 94's.

I happen to like the AE for their scope friendliness, but the safety is kinda BS.

Boomer

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The plot thickens!!! Now I see a non-safety, early 80's 94 a guy wants to trade for a Mauser. Included in his list is a Yugo.
I'm falling of the no trade wagon on this one if it's still available for a straight up trade.
It's not like the trades that led to my rule. A No5 Jungle Carbine for a Hakim, or a 1918 manufactured Colt U.S Government Property marked 1911 for a S&W 645. With a real German 98, a Turk, a BRNO, and a Spanish 1916 converted to 7.62 NATO in the safe I don't think I'll miss the Yugo.

I just came back from a Pre 64 Winchester quest over the last 5 weeks. There are some very nice pre64 shooters out there that are affordable, you just need to check often. I have found that many beautiful pre 64 M94's that have been traded in over the last 6 months due to the gun scare to get handguns. You will never loose money on a quality Pre64 and the quality is outstanding. I managed to find a one owner unmolested 1955 M94 for a good price. The journey was half the fun..... Keep your gun and find your self the lever action you really want to own, hunt with, and pass down to your grandkids.

__________________"I'm a good guy with a gun"What do I care if I give up some freedom or rights?....The Goverment will take care of me. This kind of thinking is now in the majority and it should concern you.

"Ask not what you can do for your country, but what free entitlements you can bleed from your country"

I'd be more concerned as to when a Model 94 was made than I would if it was an angle-eject model or not; even if it had a cross-bolt safety or not. Model 94s made post 1964 ("Third Model") and up until sometime in the late sixties, were compromised with cheap production methods, including cast receivers that had a unique, blotchy finish that is almost impossible to re-finish and stamped parts that were previously machined/forged (i.e., the stamped lifter/carrier assembly). Model 94s made after 1968 (dubbed the 3a style), though not as well made as pre-64 94s, at least were now made sans stamped parts. What became known as the "Sixth Model" (6A-Angle Eject, 6B-Angle Eject with Button Safety and 6C-Angle Eject with Tang Safety), starting in 1983 at serial numbers around 5,300,000, were much better made rifles, according to the author of Winchester Model 94; A Century of Craftmanship, Robert C. Renneberg. Mr. Renneberg enthused: "...Another welcome feature (of Sixth Models) is the use of one hundred percent steel forgings in all angle-eject models. This (model was) a serious attempt at prduct improvement and show(ed) a real desire to return to that old-time Winchester quality..."

It's my opinion that every serious rifle aficionado should have at least one Modl 94 in their firearm inventory.

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Thanks dgludwig. Or should I call you the "enabler" for your info. This particular 94 is a pre safety, angle eject. By the pics the finish looks very good. So I think It may well be in your range of "better built" post '64 rifles.
The guy said he also has a box of ammo with It, and to sweeten the deal I offered to throw in two bandoliers (140 rnds) of surplus Turk 8MM I've had for a while, and probably didn't pay much more than a dime a round for.

I wouldn't trade off any Mauser, but that's just me. Stick to your rule and save up some cash for that 94 (personally I'd hold out for a pre 64). If you trade you'll be kicking yourself down the road just as I've regretted every trade or sale I ever made. Not worth it in the long run.

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